Sanders promises 'don't add up,' says Clinton

Update:
February, 05/2016 - 12:21

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DURHAM, United States — Hillary Clinton lockedhorns with her rival for the Democratic White House nomination Bernie Sanders in a party debate yesterday, saying his promises "don't add up" and accusing himof smear tactics.

Their duel in New Hampshire came three days after Clinton clinched thenarrowest victory in Iowa caucus history against Sanders, and five days before the next round of voting in the tortuous US presidential race.

"Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals," the former secretary of state said as the debate got underway. "But the numbers just don't add up from what Senator Sanders has been proposing."

"I am not going to make promises I can't keep."

While most expect Clinton to ultimately win the nomination, Sanders haswhipped up passionate support with a grassroots campaign focused on improvingthe lives of working Americans.

With the senator from Vermont leading by 20 points in New Hampshire polls,the pair tussled over their claim to represent the progressive wing of theparty, and their differences on Wall Street, health care and taxes.

Some of their sharpest exchanges were on campaign financing, with Clintonaccusing her rival of seeking unfairly to discredit her by suggesting she was beholden to powerful donors.

Sanders insisted that Clinton cannot claim to be both a moderate and aprogressive, criticizing her for raising $15 million from Wall Street.

"I think it's time to end the artful smear that you and your campaign havebeen carrying out in recent weeks and let's talk about the issues that divideus," she responded. "I never changed a vote because of any donation I received."

"I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy ofyou. Enough is enough!"

But Sanders stood firm, repeating his oft-voiced pledge to rein inbillionaires' influence on the US political system.

"Let's talk about issues," he said. "Let's talk about why in the 1990s WallStreet got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that WallStreet provided – spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaigncontributions?